Page 968 : JEFFERSONVILLE — JELLYFISH
the leaders of the Revolutionary party. In the first continental congress he was appointed on a committee with Adams, Franklin, Sherman and Livingston to draft the Declaration of Independence. The document, as written by Jefferson, was a transcript of his famous pamphlet issued two years before. It was destined to dismember an empire, found a new nation on new principles of liberty and equality, and furnish a model for numerous nations that were to assert their right to self-government.
The years of the Revolution he devoted mainly to governing Virginia, declining more conspicuous office, and to working out a practicable form of republican government. Most of his ideas found place in the Constitution. After the war he returned to Congress. He secured the adoption of our system of coinage and the prohibition of slavery north of the Ohio River. He succeeded Franklin as Minister to France, returning in 1789 to become secretary of state in Washington’s first cabinet. Here the beginnings were made in the formation of two great political parties — the Democratic (first called Republican) with Jefferson as the leader, the Whig (originally the Federalist) with Alexander Hamilton. The former stood for states rights, the latter for a strong centralized Federal government — issues that dominated the country until they were fought out in the Civil War. Jefferson’s ideas prevailed in the election of 1800 when he was chosen president. “Jeffersonian simplicity” came in on inauguration-day when the new executive rode to the capital on horseback, unattended, dressed in plain cloth, and tied his horse to a fence-post. Court etiquette was abolished and titles of honor dispensed with. “His excellency” was plain Mr. Jefferson.
Jefferson’s administrations (1801–9) were marked by constructive work. He stopped the preying of Algerian pirates on commerce; negotiated the purchase of Louisiana and followed it with the Lewis and Clarke expedition to the Pacific; maintained, without war, the rights of neutrals on the high seas; prosecuted his own vice-president, Aaron Burr, for suspected treasonable projects in the southwest. He reduced the public debt, fortified our seaports, diminished public taxes, and refused a third term. On March 4, 1809, he retired to private life, after forty years of continuous public service. Madison and Monroe, who succeeded him for sixteen years, were his political pupils and personal friends and, before he died, July 4, 1826, he was assured of the coming leadership of a forceful disciple from the west — Andrew Jackson.
To the last day of his life he was the most distinguished man in America — “the sage of Monticello.” His hospitality was so large and free that his estate was literally eaten up, and he died poor. He passed away on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, and was buried in the heart of a forest on the estate. A plain granite shaft which marks the spot is inscribed: “Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence.” See Memoir by T. J. Randolph, Jefferson’s son-in-law, and James Parton’s Life.
Jeff′ersonville, Ind., a city on the Ohio River opposite Louisville, Ky., with which it is connected by two iron railroad bridges each nearly a mile in length. The falls of the river are utilized in the various manufactories, which include railroad workshops, large carworks, foundries, machine shops, flourmills, etc. There also are boat-yards, and hydraulic cement is manufactured in the vicinity. One of the state prisons is here, as are the Indiana State Reformatory and also the U. S. quartermaster’s supply depot. Population 10,412.
Jeffreys, George, Lord, an English lawyer, who rose to a high position on the bench but disgraced the profession and made his name forever infamous by his cruelties and brutal disposition, was born at Acton, England, in 1648. He was the son of a squire of small means, who contrived to give his son a good education. Among his earliest trials were those of Titus Oates and Richard Baxter, and in both he displayed his brutal and vindictive nature. In 1685 he was sent to the west to try those who took part in Monmouth’s unsuccessful rebellion. Three hundred and twenty were hanged as rebels during the trial, which was called the Bloody Assize; 840 were transported; and a still larger number were whipped, imprisoned and treated with the most brutal cruelty. He was appointed lord-chancellor by James II, and made a peer with the title of Baron Jeffreys of Wem. When James II was driven from the throne and kingdom, he tried to follow his master, disguised as a sailor, but was caught and shut up in the Tower of London, to save him from being torn to pieces by the mob. Here, worn out by hard drinking, he died on April 18, 1689. See Life by Woolrych.
Jehu (jē′hū́), the eleventh king of Israel, reigned between 883 and 855 B. C. He was reckless and violent in character. The house oi Ahab fell by his hand, and the heathen priests were executed, thus sweeping the kingdom clean of idolatry and establishing Jehovah’s worship. But his reign was unprosperous. See Second Kings: 9 and 10.
Jel′lyfish, the name given to free swimming hydrozoa (q. v.). They are common at the seacoast and are often seen from the decks of vessels. Some forms look like mushrooms, others have more the form of an umbrella or saucer with something suspended underneath. They formerly were
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